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(Mode1.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 1.

G. AMBORN JL GOMBINED WELT AND UPPER GUIDE.

No. 407.987. Patented July 30,1889

(ModeL) 3 Sheets-Sheet 2.

, G. AMBORN, Jr.

COMBINED WELT AND UPPER GUIDE, No. 407,987. Patented July 30, 1889.v

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(Model.) 4 3 Sheets-Sheet 3. G. AMBORN, Jr.

COMBINED WELT AND UPPER GUIDE.

No. 407,987. Patented Ju1y 80, 1889.

UNITED STATES RAT ENT Fries.

GEORGE AMBORN, JR, OF PA'WTUCKE'I, -RHODE ISLAND, ASSIGNOR TO THE CAMPBELL MACHINE COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

COMBINED WELT SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 407,987, dated July 30, 1889.

Application filed November 15, 1888 Serial No. 290,864. (ModeL) To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE AnBoRN, Jr., of Pawtucket, in the county of Providence and State of Rhode Island, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Combined \Velt and Upper Guides for Use 011 Machines for Uniting \Velt-s, Insoles, and Uppers in the Manufacture of Boots and Shoes; and I do hereby declare that the following specification, taken in connection with the drawings furnished and forming a part thereof, is a clear, true, and complete description of the several features of my invention.

Prior to indicating the nature of my said improvements I deem it proper to state that my invention grew out of my knowledge and use of such welt-guides and combined welt and upper guides as were disclosed in Letters Patent to Arnold, No. 329,426, Novemher 3, 1885, and No. 350,289, March 15, 1887, and also still another form thereof devised by E. P. and E. F. Arnold, and to yet another organization which was disclosed in Letters" Patent No. 866,259, issued to E. 0. Ross July 12, 1887, and it is to be distinctlyunderstood that I make no claim to have invented anything which has been disclosed in either of said Letters Patent, nor which has been embodied by either of said parties in any weltsewing device of which I have knowledge.

Referring to the Arnold devices, it will be only necessary for the purposes of this specification to state that their combined welt and upper guides involve such a combination of the welt-guide and the upper-guide that the lifting of the presser-foot, which forms a part of the welt-guide, fails to change the position of the upper-guide; or, in other words, the two guides have separate foundations, the welt-guide being carried on or as a part of the presser-foot, and the upper-guide is carried by or on apendent arm secured to an overlying portion of the frame of the machine. In the combined welt and upper guide of Ross the presser-foot has the welt-guide on or forming a part of the foot, and the upper-guide 011 a bent arm is attached to the shank of said foot, so that all the parts of the device rise and fall with the presser-foot.

In the best forms of the Arnold device the upper-guide can be conveniently moved towayd or from the welt-guide in a horizontal plane during the operation of sewing welts, and this is supplemented by a capacity in the upper-guide to'swing bodily outward and upward, as when a shoe is to be placed 011 or removed from the horn of the machine or while stitching uppers to soles at the rear of the welts.

In the Ross device the upper-guide at its bearing surface is adjustable toward and from the welt-guide; but, as before indicated, said guiding-surface is at the lower end of a bent arm, the upper end of which is loosely secured to the upper portion of the shank of the presser-foot, so that said guiding-surface moves in the arc of a circle, because of the elevated position of its pivotal point, and hence it variably operates in the character of its contact with the upper opposite the edge of the insole, and it is also slightly variable as to position, and, moreover, said upperguide arm is moved outward by a spring and inward by a set-screw, and as its pivotal connection is a loose one the gaging action is liable to be varied if, during the stitching of a welt, the bent arm of the upper-guide be accidentally hit or pressed against at its outer side.

Now, one object of my invention is, while attaching welts, to secure the reliable results in upper-gaging, due to the horizontal sliding movement of the upper-gage, as in the Arnold devices, coupled with those advantages which accrue from having the presserfoot and its shank carry the weltrguide and the-uppenguide, as in the Ross device, and in doing this I avoid those objections in both which have been practically encountered in their use; and to these ends I have for the first time combined with the base of a presserfoot (which forms a part of a welt-guide) a rigid laterally-projecting block, preferably integral therewith, and said block is provided with or contains one horizontally movable and adjustable slide, which constitutes one guiding-face in the weltrguide; and in said block there is also a second horizontal movable slide, the edge of which serves as the upper guide or gage, and this is controlled by a cam-slotted lever.

In all of the prior devices referred to the upper guide or gage has of course been restricted as to its extreme limit of inward movement, and in each of them there is also a limit to its extreme outward movement; but in no prior device known to me has the upper-guide been so organized that its inward movement could be adjustably restricted or limited to points intermediate of these 'e-X- tremes, and this deficiency renders it difficult which- Figure 1 is a front elevation of the upper portion of awell-known McKay machine having my improved combined welt and. upper guide applied thereto. Fig. 2 is a front view of a presser-foot detached, with my improvements thereon, and having a welt indicated in position in dotted lines. Fig. 3 is a rear view of the same. Figs. 4c and 5 are opposite side views of the same, a portion of a welt, a shoe-upper, and an insole being shown in Fig. 4 as when on a horn. Figs. 6 and 7 are respectively top and bottom views thereof. Fig. 8 is a vertical section of the device on line w, Fig. 6. Fig. 9 is a horizontal section on line m,-Fig. 4:.

Referring to Fig. 1,it will be only necessary to refer to the horn A, needle B, and feed-bar O in a general way, with the understanding that they, as well as their operating mechanism, are as heretofore, and involve no mate 'rial changes because of using my invention therewith, although I may with propriety state that the feed-bar shown has a pair offeed-points, and that the presser-foot is slotted for the crosswise reception of said feed-points but it is to be understood that these features are not of my invention, the combination of such points with a suitable presser-foot and a welt-guide being recognized by me as the invention of J. Stanley Turnef.

The presser-foot D has a shank D, as heretofore, by which it is securely mounted in an inclined pendent position from a portion of the frame of the machine, and the feed and needle slot a a in said foot is of the peculiar form and arrangement employed in said Turners welt-sewing mechanism. At what may be termed the inner side of said slot and at the under side-of the presser-foot there is a fixed guiding-surface b, and on the under side of the shank there is a welt-tension spring .0 and a cross-bar d, all as heretofore in the aforesaid Arnold mechanism.

From the outer side of the presser-foot there is a horizontally-projecting block E, which is preferably integral with 'the foot and shank, although it might'be made sepa-- j ustable toward and from the surface I), and

is secured in fixed adjustment by means of the clamp-screw b occupying a slot in the block E. j

The welt-guide b and screw Z2 sliding in a block laterally projecting from the presserfoot, have their substantial counterparts in the aforesaid device of Ross, as shown in his patent, No. 366,259; but this block E, unlike his, also carries the upper-guide e, which is mounted therein in a specially desirable and effective manner. The gaging-surface of this guide 6 is parallel withthe welt-guiding surfaces 19 and b, but below the latter. The guide 6 consists of a head e and a cylindrical tail-piece 6 the latter sliding in a longitudinal hole in said block, which at one side is slotted from said hole outward, as at e so that the screws 6 on the under side of the block may be relied upon for so far closing said slot as to compensate for any wear that may occur between the tail-piece and its bearing-surfaces, it being important that the guide e should at all times be free from all liability of derangement as to position. From the top of the tail-piece, and projecting upward through a slot in the block E, there is a screwstud f, which at its upper end occupies a curved cam-slot f in a lever g, mounted on and pivoted to the top of said block, so that on swinging said lever to and fro the guide e will be moved toward or from the presserfoot; or, in other words, its gaging-surface is thereby varied with relation to the welt-guiding surfaces.

It should now be observed 'tlltllCOllSldGl ing the lever g and upper-guide e as apart from the presser-foot block E they are similar to the upper-guide and lever of one of the aforesaid Arnold devices, but differing therefrom with respect of means for maintaining uniform relations between the guide 6 and its bearings; and, further, it should be observed that in said Arnold device the upperguide and its lever are mounted on a pendent arm wholly independent of the presser-foot, and that in the Ross device an upper-guide is at the foot of an inclined pendent bent swinging arm attached to the under side of the upper portion of the shank of the presserfoot. Witlreither of said prior devices, owing to the pivotal points of connection involved, it is impracticable to maintain that absolutely uniform and reliable relation between the welt-guide and upper-guide which I deem essential for obtaining perfect results in welt sewing. WVith these guides organized in acmaybe readily varied in its position; but it is always absolutely rigid with relation to the welt-guide imwhatever position it may be set for duty. 1 have also devised anovel feature in connection with the upper-guide e, which consists in an adjustable'stop by which the inward limit of movement by said guide may be adjust-ably varied, thus providing within fixed limits for the variable location of the stitch-line with respect of the edge of an insole, it being important in some cases to have said line located with accuracy quite near the edge of the insole and in others more remote therefrom, and while this is readily accomplished by a movement of the lever g the operator is liable to move the guide 6 too far inward, and this I render impossible by means of a stop-pin h, which projects laterally from the tail-piece 8 through a slot in the block E, and which abuts against the end of a stopscrew h, tapped into a hole in a stud 7L ,p1O- jecting from the side of the block. It will readily be seen that by the adjustment of the stop-screw the stitch-line can never be run over the edge of the insole nor be located too near said edge, and also that the location of said line can beabsolutely determined at any desired point between the two extremes of location, which are rendered possible by the capacity of the lever g to move the upper-guide 6 toward and from the welt-guide, or, in other words, toward and from the horn on which the shoe is supported.

For illustratin g more fully, Iwill refer to the welt indicated in dottedlines in Fig. 2, and also shown in section at 'L' in Fig. 4, together with a shoe-upper 7t and an insole Z, as when mounted on a horn A in position for uniting the welt, upper, and insole, the welt-guiding surfaces 1) and I) being clearlyindicated and the location of the upper-guideebeing clearly shown in contact with the shoe-upper opposite the edge of the insole. It will be readily 45 obvious that my improvements are not dependent. for value upon their use WIT/l1 any special type of machine capable of uniting Welts, insoles, and uppers, it being only necessary that a horn be employed for support- 5'0 ing the lasted shoe to enable my improved combined welt-guide and upper-guide to be used to good advantage.

Having thus describedmy invention, I clann as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent 5 5 1. The combined Welt and upperguide consisting of a presser-foot provided at ts base with a rigidly-proj ecting block containing an adjustable slide which affords awelt-guiding. surface co-operating with a fixed welt-gnid- 6o ing surface on and beneath the presser-foot,

and also containing a second slide or upper gage, which affords a surface for gaging or guiding a boot or shoe during its movement on a supporting-horn by its contact with the 6 5 upper opposite the edge of the insole, and a cam-lever mounted on said block for moving said upper-gage toward and from the presserfoot and welt-guide, substan tlally as described.

2. In a combined Welt and upper guide, the 70 welt-guide, substantially as described,where- 7 5 by, while uniting a welt, an insole, and an up per, the line of union may be assuredly lo cated at a distance never too near the edge of the insole.

GEORGE AMBORN, JR.

Vitnesses:

DANIEL McNivnN, MILLARD F. MUNROE. 

